


what's left of my heart's still made of gold

by hearden



Category: Flashpoint (TV), Power Rangers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-16 18:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12348507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: Before she ever held a gun, Julianna Callaghan used to be Kimberly Hart.(aka the flashpoint au that makes no sense but i can't not write it ok)





	what's left of my heart's still made of gold

**Author's Note:**

> for @kimberlyannharts on tumblr: happy (early) birthday abbey!!! i hope this hits all of ur kim and jules feels and i hope that u have a wonderful day!!!
> 
> none of this makes sense and i definitely have not watched flashpoint all the way through so i'm making do with vagueness and flashpoint wiki telling me things
> 
>  **warnings:** mentions of suicide, depression, and ptsd.
> 
> see end notes for what's canon in this fusion au

The Armada comes to Earth, and Jules keeps her head down.

 

-

 

Growing up in a house with four boys had been hard. With her mother being the only other woman around, Jules bonded with her more than she did with her dad.

_Being on a team with four other boys and one girl hadn't been as hard as it sounded. She held her own, made sure that the boys -- especially Jason and Tommy, at first -- didn't drown the Command Center in their alpha-male testosterone bark-off, and out of all of it, she got a best friend. But, it wouldn't last._

And, then, her mother dies when she is sixteen.

_When she is sixteen, she leaves Angel Grove to train for gymnastics and never looks back._

One night, she steals her father's truck, gets drunk, and drives, looking to get away.

_The nightmares, the depression, the emptiness of not having powers anymore -- she can't handle them all. A brush with the familiar brings back the comfort of heroism again, but it's gone all too soon. She's empty, hollow, wanting more out of life than this hole in her heart. So, she cuts all ties, breaks up with Tommy, and moves on. Refocuses._

Officer Mary Falon stops her on the road and takes her home, keeping her company and talking with her until morning. It doesn't take away her grief, but it gives her enough comfort that she decides what her purpose in life will be.

_But, even without her old life haunting her, her luck suffers, and a stupid mistake injures her straight into retirement._

She has it in her head that she'll become a police officer. Her father's outrageously against it, given that he retired years ago and doesn't want his children seeing the same kind of horrors he had. But, her drive doesn't stop.

_And, then, Trini dies._

And, then, her best friend's mother commits suicide. She watches, helpless, as her best friend withdraws from everyone, from everything, and then, in the end, from life itself.

_The pain comes back. She should've known by now that it always, always comes back. But, this time, her nightmares aren't just about monsters and aliens and robot dinosaurs -- they're about Trini, too, and how she has and always will be helpless to save the ones she loves. She's haunted, day and night, by a life that won't leave her because she keeps holding on._

It's not enough to just mourn.

_It's not enough to just forget._

She has to do something about it.

_She kills Kimberly Hart._

She enrolls in the police academy.

_And, from the ashes, Julianna Callaghan rises._

 

-

 

The thing is, miraculously, nobody knows.

At first, she lives on edge, wondering if someone will look over her background check and expose her, but nobody does.

But, then again, the thing with background checks is that they're looking for potential serial killers and red flags. Her past -- as fabricated as it is -- doesn't hide a red flag.

It takes her some time to get used to hearing a new name, responding to a new name.

Canada isn't America at all, but having lived in France for years before, her French is polished enough that her lie becomes more believable. She _is_ Jules.

And Jules knows things that Kimberly Hart doesn't.

It's easy enough for her to drop into a fighting stance and throw some punches, but they teach her _real_ fighting in the Academy. She can knock out men twice her size with a simple pressure point. It helps, a little bit, that she's dealt with monsters bigger than the tallest cadet she knows.

A gun is just about as heavy in her hands as her bow used to be, but somehow, it feels heavier. She's never used her bow to kill anything except for space trash, but the knowledge that a sniper rifle can kill instantly makes her fear it just a little bit more.

Nevertheless, she strips it down and puts it all back together in a record time that's faster than anything Kim could've pulled off.

That's the thing -- she's good. Hell, she's _better,_ better than she ever could've been.

She's so good that the Strategic Response Unit offers her a position as a constable.

Jules accepts without hesitation.

 

-

 

She's the only woman on the team, but she's had experience with not being the majority before.

A locker room to herself is as good as it sounds, and the sign on the outside even says her name instead of _women._ She takes one look at it, forces down the unease in her stomach, and chuckles, instead.

Every now and then, the team does a normal psych eval check-up.

Somehow, by the grace of God, she doesn't get caught.

It's hard, and it makes her anxious.

Greg even notices -- he always does because he's the leader, always watching out for them, and when she looks at him, she's thrown a decade into the past -- that she's always the last to sign-up for the evaluation.

She makes up a lie on the spot about not liking sitting in a room, getting asked questions.

She likes right or wrong. Black-and-white. Black and white.

 _Shoot at a target, you hit it,_ she tells Greg. Simple, easy.

He looks at her, and she wonders if he knows.

 

-

 

Sam messes everything up.

She tells herself that it's just a fling, just a… whatever it is.

She's made sure to date people outside of the team -- mostly for professional reasons, obviously, but also for personal reasons.

Blind dates, people she meets in bars, whatever -- they rarely see her again. She can sleep in peace, knowing that there's never a chance they could unravel her whole life.

But, Sam.

Sometimes, she thinks, maybe she should tell him. Maybe she should tell _all_ of them, even if it costs her her job and career. Even if it means she could destroy everything she's spent years building up, not to mention the fact that she can add lying to federal authorities countless times onto her rap sheet.

But, she doesn't.

Maybe, she's selfish, and that's always been her problem -- being a good person but _wanting_ too much. Good people do not desire more. They can't. She can't. Not again.

She's selfish, so when he slips a ring onto her finger, she gets married under the wrong name.

 

-

 

Her demons chase her down, though.

Somewhere between getting married, raising a child, and starting a _family,_ she had almost believed that it was truly over.

Every now and then, she would walk by while Sam was relaxing after dinner, and there would be a news story about whatever new team of Rangers all the media outlets in the States were following like vultures.

Sadie likes them, looks up to them. Sam's bought her some of the toys, and she figures that it'd be a lot more suspicious of her to _not_ let him indulge in their daughter's fascination with the Power Rangers.

It hurts her whenever she walks into Sadie's room at night to tuck her in, and the action figures are lined up on Sadie's bookshelf, just staring at her. Taunting her in their multiple colors, multiple suits of the teams that came after her.

She doesn't ever recognize them. She would if she had kept up with everyone, but to start over, she'd made herself untraceable. None of her old teammates -- her old _friends_ \-- could contact her if they didn't know her new number. If they didn't know that she had left France a long time ago and moved a lot closer than they thought she was.

Sometimes, it eats her up on the inside, but she figures that it's for the better. She's way in too deep now to break down the lie.

But, then, the Armada launches a full-scale invasion on Earth, and the SRU is horribly equipped to deal with it all.

There's only a team of six Rangers, based somewhere in southern California -- she only knows that because Sadie has all their action figures and takes a special liking to the pink one.

They're not enough to defend the entire planet against an invasion.

 

-

 

Toronto burns like every other city.

Nobody cares about policy and regulation after shit hits the fan, so all of the SRU bands together. Crime rises as the days go on -- looters taking advantage of the situation, people turning hostile and violent.

She and Sam have each other's backs, and they have their teams' backs.

 _I've never seen anything like this,_ Sam confesses to her in the break room back at HQ. They're lucky that the Armada hasn't gotten in here yet, that they still have a base to operate out of.

He sounds scared, and guilt rises up in her.

 _I have,_ she says, softly, and it's the first truth about her old life that she's ever told him, _Back in '99, there was that big alien invasion that the Power Rangers saved us all from._

Sam chuckles, _I was a kid, so I don't remember that at all._ He looks at her, curious, _Were you scared?_

 _Yeah,_ she answers, _But, I had faith._

 _In what?_ he asks.

It's more like _in who,_ but she doesn't tell him about Zordon. She doesn't tell him about how she found out, shortly after, that Zordon was gone, and how that had almost killed her.

She shrugs, _In myself. In the Power Rangers, too._

 _They're just people, Jules,_ Sam says, frowning, _Or aliens or whatever. I mean, this is… it's huge. I don't know if they can stop this._

She ignores the last part of his comment and sighs, _Yeah, they are just people._

 

-

 

Xborgs, as it turns out, can easily be taken out by bullets. She doesn't even need a blaster or a sword or anything. The tallies pile up -- dozens by her Glock, a couple by chokeholds, a few by being pistol whipped.

She's sniped more of them than anyone else in the SRU has. It's not a bow, but it'll do.

 _You're really good at this,_ Ed tells her one night after a hazardous couple of hours of patrolling.

She shrugs it off and waves a hand at him, _What can I say? I'm a natural._

 

-

 

It's a useless idea, but she keeps her morpher with her at all times after the Armada first attacks. She doesn't try to morph, especially not with her team constantly around her, but it gives her some sort of comfort to have it at the bottom of her bag, next to the parts of her trusted Remington.

It's daytime. She hasn't slept yet, having spent all night last night clearing a few blocks full of Xborgs. Their attacks have been dropping off a bit. Maybe, she thinks, the Megaforce Rangers have been keeping the Armada busy.

A cold shower does nothing to calm the adrenaline that seems to live in her blood, now, but it keeps her awake. Staying awake is all that matters anymore.

She changes into plainclothes and slams her locker close.

A flash of green light disrupts her thoughts, and she jumps, dropping into a fighting stance immediately.

Tommy blinks at her, holding up his hands in surrender, _Hey! It's just me!_

She gapes at him and slowly drops her hands down to her sides, _I-- Tommy?_

He's lost the ponytail, thankfully.

He glances at her locker and notices the name on it -- not hers. Well, hers, but… not the way he knows her. _Where are we?_ he asks, confused.

 _You're the one who teleported here,_ she mutters, frowning at him. She doesn't bother asking why he's here. There's only ever one reason why someone from her past would appear.

 _Yeah, but… I was more focused on finding you, not really thinking about the where,_ he scratches at his head, still looking around, _Are we in a police station?_

 _Yeah,_ she answers, keeping it short.

He looks at her, _Is this what you've been doing since…_

 _Since the funeral?_ she finishes for him, nodding, _Yeah._

Tommy gives her a once-over and pauses when he finally notices her wedding band. _Kimberly,_ he starts but stops when she flinches.

 _It's been a long time since anyone's called me that,_ she says, unable to keep a hint of bitterness out of her tone, not bothering to give him an explanation even when his brow furrows in deeper confusion. She sighs and rubs a hand over her face, hoping that he'd disappear when she opens her eyes.

He doesn't.

_What do you need, Tommy?_

_We need you,_ he says, slowly, _Do you still have your morpher?_

She stares at him in silence for a long moment then turns the combination for her locker, opening it back up. Rummaging through her pack inside, she pulls out her morpher and shuts the locker before Tommy can see anything else inside. _Yep,_ she holds it out to him, _Still got it. Doesn't work, though. Not that I've tried._

Tommy is busy studying the name on her locker. _So, Callaghan,_ he comments. He doesn't sound jealous or hurt -- just curious.

_It's my name._

He raises an eyebrow at her then passes his hand over her morpher. Something, something she can only assume is the doing of The Power, happens, and she squeezes her eyes shut against the blinding flash of light that follows.

When she opens her eyes, Tommy tilts his head at her, expectantly. _It works now,_ he says, _The other Rangers need us. It's gonna take everyone to put the Armada down for good._

 _Everyone?_ she echoes, and Tommy nods, _I… Can you give me a second? I can't just, you know, leave._

_Yeah, sure, go ahead._

She pulls out her phone and texts Sam and Ed the same message: _Emergency. Will be back as soon as I can. Stay safe._ And, to Sam, she adds something extra: _I love you._

Tommy is still waiting when she slips her phone back into her pocket. _Okay,_ she says, _I'm ready._

He motions at her morpher, _Morph and we'll teleport together._

She stares down at the piece of metal in her hands. Such a small thing counts for so much.

She should've known that, one day, she'd have to dig it out again.

Kimberly presses the button on the side and disappears in a flash of pink light.

 

-

 

When it's all over, she teleports home, still relatively early in the evening. A couple of bushes hide her arrival, and she enters her home, glad that she hadn't left her keys at HQ.

Sam and Sadie are home, and immediately, when she walks in, she's swallowed up in warm hugs from her husband and daughter.

 _You missed it!_ Sadie exclaims, bouncing excitedly, _Daddy and I saw it on TV -- the Power Rangers saved the day!_

Her laugh hurts her stomach. She bends down to Sadie's level, _I'm so glad to see you, sweetie, but can Daddy and I talk by ourselves for a little bit?_

Sadie nods and rushes off upstairs after Sam lets her go.

Sam looks at her, curiously. _What was the emergency?_ he asks, _Are you alright? Where were you? I was… really worried._

She answers, avoiding his eyes, _I was there._

 _What?_ Sam furrows his eyebrows, confused, _There where?_

 _I didn't miss it,_ she clarifies, _I was there._

Sam blinks, _Jules, what are you talking about?_

Guilt and dread rising up in her throat, she sighs, _Sam… I have something to tell you._

**Author's Note:**

> title from Rainbow - Kesha
> 
> canon material:  
> \- everything about kimberly from the show including mmpr / zeo / turbo  
> \- all seasons of PR up to super megaforce  
> \- jules' background from flashpoint becomes lies that kimberly fabricated but the events of flashpoint are canon


End file.
